George
David Ruggles of New YorkAppointed from New York, Cadet, United States
Military Academy, 1 September 1851 (19)Brevet Second Lieutenant, 1st U. S. Infantry,
1 July 1855Second Lieutenant, 2nd U. S. Infantry, 1 July
1855First Lieutenant, 2 May 1861Regimental Adjutant, 10 September 1857 to
1 July 1861Brevet Captain, 17 July 1862Colonel, Aide-de-Camo, 28 August 1862 to 31
May 1866Lieutenant, Assistant Adjutant General, 15
June 1880Colonel, Assistant Adjutant General, 7 June
1889Brigadier General, Adjutant General of the
Army, 6 November 1893Breveted Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel,
13 March 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the warBreveted Brigadier General, 13 March 1865,
for gallant service during the campaign terminating with the surrender
of the insurgent army of Northern Virginia and Brigadier General, U. S.
Volunteers, 9 April 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the
operations resulting in the fall of Richmond, Virginia, and the surrender
of the insurgent army under General Robert E. LeeRetired 11 September 1897
Born at Newburgh, New York, September 11, 1833, the son
of David and Sarah Colden Ruggles. He graduated from West Point in 1855,
19th in a class of 34, and was assigned to the Infantry.

He served on the Frontier and was promoted
to First Lieutenant, Assistant Adjutant General, August 3, 1861. After
serving as Pope's Chief of Staff and Adjutant General, he was Assistant
Adjutant General of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland. He served on special
duty in the War Department until March 19, 1863 and in the Provost Marhsal's
Department until August 16, 1864. Then he was on inspection duty, named
Adjutant General of the Army of the Potomac, February 1-June 30, 1865.

He continued in the Regular Army after the
Civil War, receiving brevets to Brigadier General, U.S. Army and U.S. Volunteers,
April 9, 1865 for war services. He retired from the Army as a Brigadier
General in 1897. Under orders of the President, he was the Governor of
the Soldiers' Home, 1898-1903.

He died in 1904 and was buried in Section 3
of Arlington National Cemetery.
GENERAL GEORGE D. RUGGLES DEADBrilliant Civil War Record of Veteran Who
Expired at Washington

WASHINGTON, October 19, 1904 – General George
D. Ruggles, retired, for several years manager of the Soldiers’ Home in
the city, died here tonight.

General Ruggles was a native of New York and
a graduate of West Point, but at the outbreak of the Civil War entered
the volunteer Army and became Adjutant General of a brigade from Pennsylvania,
later taking the leading part in organizing the Army of the Potomac.

His first battle was at Ball’s Bluff.
He won the confidence of the commanders of the Army of the Potomac and
became Adjutant General and Chief of Staff to General Pope. He participated
in the battles at Bull Run, Antietam and Chancellorsville, and after the
battle of Gettysburg became Adjutant General of Meade’s army. In
1893 General Ruggles was appointed Adjutant General of the Army, retiring
for age just prior to the Spanish-American War.